Canelo Alvarez scores devastating 6th-round knockout of Amir Khan

— -- LAS VEGAS -- Middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez was having a lot of problems with the speed and movement of Amir Khan, just the way Khan and his team planned. And then Alvarez connected.

Alvarez landed a monster right hand to Khan's chin in the sixth round, and that was it as he brutally knocked Khan out on Saturday night in the main event of the first boxing card at the new T-Mobile Arena.

The largely Mexican crowd cheering Alvarez on during Cinco de Mayo weekend erupted and Alvarez had retained the 160-pound world title in his first defense six months after taking it by unanimous decision from Miguel Cotto.

Sitting ringside was unified titleholder Gennady Golovkin, the fearsome puncher who, by virtue of his interim belt, looms as Alvarez's mandatory challenger. They made a deal with the WBC under which both would take interim fights and then fight in September. Golovkin blew away Dominic Wade in two rounds on April 23 and then Alvarez smashed Khan.